Joe Girardi a hero when helping victim of car crash after World Series

Hours after managing the Yankees to their first World Championship in nine years, Joe GirardiJoe Girardi managed to become a hero to a Westchester County woman whose car struck a concrete barrier.

On his way home from the World Series clinching celebration early Thursday morning with his wife, Girardi spotted the mangled car and wound up darting across the eastbound lane of the Cross County Parkway in Eastchester.

Girardi already had told his wife to phone the police on her cell. When he reached the woman, 27-year-old Marie Henry of Connecticut, she already had contacted police but could not get out of her car.

"Her SUV looked horrible," Girardi said Thursday afternoon on WFAN radio. "I told her, ’You need to get out,’" fearing that her vehicle could be struck from behind on the dark roadway.

Girardi remained with the woman, shaken but otherwise unhurt, until police arrived about four minutes later. "She had no idea who I was," Girardi said, though a police officer later told the woman the identity of her good Samaritan.

"The guy wins the World Series, what does he do? He stops to help," officer Kathleen Cristiano told The Journal-News. "It was totally surreal."

About 15 minutes before responding to the accident, Cristiano had congratulated Girardi on his World Series victory after passing him through a random drunk-driving checkpoint. Winning pitcher Andy PettitteAndy Pettitte earlier had passed through on his way home, according to a newspaper report.

The Journal-News also quoted Sgt. Thomas McGurn as saying Girardi put himself at risk in leaving his car to dash across a busy roadway near a "notorious" blind curve.

"He could’ve gotten killed," said McGurn, quoted from the report received by the newspaper. "Traffic goes by at 80 mph."

Girardi felt he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary.

"Obviously, there’s a lot of joy in what we do, but we can’t forget our obligation as human beings," he said, less than 24 hours after piloting the Yankees to their 27th World Championship. When he accepted the managerial job two years ago, Girardi requested to wear No. 27 as a symbol of the club’s quest to win another title. Now, he’s thinking of going to spring training as No. 28.

"That’s something I talked to (general manager) Brian CashmanBrian Cashman about briefly (Thursday), and we’ll talk more (Friday)," Girardi told WFAN-AM. The manager said he also has to speak with outfielder Shelley DuncanShelley Duncan, who wore No. 28 this year.

"I’ll see if he’ll allow me to wear it," Girardi said.

"But I think I’m going to make a number change."